Almost 1,000 signatures to petition demanding development cease until supply is deemed reliable

The fact that 30,000 people are impacted regularly by water outages because of a lack of foresight to provide basic infrastructure screams incompetence, according to Cllr Gillian Toole who attended last week's meeting of public representatives with Uisce Éireann.

She raised the issue of the 450 new homes planned for Ratoath village and asked if the utility company can give an undertaking that the water will be sufficient when they are constructed.

"The commissioning of the new infrastructure won't take place until 2028," she pointed out.

Cllr Toole said she has a petition signed by 958 people in Ratoath calling for a proper supply, proper notification of outages and no more development until there is a reliable water supply that is future proofed to cover future development.

She welcomed the investment outlined by Uisce Éireann but said it should have been made 30 years ago.

Cllr Nick Killian said there has been a lot of anger at the lack of communication from Irish Water, not just to councillors but to the general public.

"The recent outage last week, where there were seven nights of outages left businesses unable to plan and caused major problems for young families and the elderly, and the communication from Irish Water was very poor.

"I realise there are technical issues, and that the new reservoir will have a 24 hour reserve, but the delay in getting the project finished and the lack of communication is a real problem," he said.